Angus McBean [antikvár]

Foreword What's the dictionary definition of genius? Do look it up. I'm sure it applies to Angus. He's an amazingly sensitive and kind man, who wanted to make people look their best, look beautiful. That is something which has now, sadly, been changing and for which I'm partly responsible. But he is kind and that shows through his lens; he is incapable of taking an ugly picture. Any idiot can put a mug-shot down on celluloid. Only Angus and a few other people, like Irving Penn, can do it with such dignity. I admire him for what he gave to the theatre for so long. He was so successful as a theatre photographer because he was in love with the theatre. His job was to get people to go to the shows, and he achieved this with his very glamorous, very dramatic pictures outside the theatres which made one want to go and see the plays. Of course he re-lit, re-staged and re-directed the actors, but the pictures were always in the mood of the play. And I don't think I've ever seen a photograph of Angus that was badly composed. Because of my admiration for him, I applied for a job as an assistant to Angus in 1951. In the nicest of ways he turned me down, but 1 was always very much in awe of him and totally influenced by him. 1 can show you early pictures of mine where 1 was trying to copy Angus's work - but they just turned out to be bad pictures. What has changed in theatre photography is that directors no longer IX